Thursday, November 21, 2013

Devotion - Thursday, November 21

I continue my morning reading from Revelation.  We also covered "last things" in our concluding mid-week bible study on Tuesday.  As Christians speak of "last things," it is natural to look to the last book of our bible.  Though, as we learned on Tuesday, Revelation is a particular way of looking at last things - not the only way.

That way is "apocalyptic".  You can look up the word and learn more about when you finish here.  For this morning, the aspect of "last things" I want to address is the establishment of justice.

"Justice" seems to be a clear and straight forward thing.  Everyone wants justice, right?  The subplot of Revelation tells us that what some might allow to pass as justice is not necessarily just.  The "Beasts" whose disastrous effects are felt across the cosmos rarely set out to be concentrated embodiments of evil.  In Revelation's apocalyptic style things are clearly dualistic - i.e. there is good and there is evil and little is in between.  Sometimes there are miss deeds committed in the name of justice, as in when one party acts out of retribution for past injuries.

Revelation speaks of a time when God's justice will be established.  In the 19th chapter, John writes, "Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just."

There may be times when we should fear God's justice.  There may be reasons why we would prefer our own sense of what is just.  Is it just that we consume such a disproportionate portion of the world's resources?  Is it just that we fill our closets with t-shirts of every color and design because garment workers come so cheap?

Revelation is written by one who is in prison, who has been punished because of his devotion to God, who lacks enough to eat.  Sure, he has his own vision of what God's justice might look like.  And it probably differs from the justice we define by the way we live our lives.

The promise of this last book of our Bibles is that it is God's justice which will finally come and be established on all the earth.  That is the justice we desire and (if it were possible) hasten.

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